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appeal

Hi, I'm new to this & haven't done the forum thing in a while.

I decided a couple months ago its time to own a gun. They were holding a gun show at the expo center so I figured what better place to purchase a firearm. I get denied. I wait & call and find out why I got denied, its because I got into a fight with my older brother over 10 years ago (i was 15) and I was sent to a mental facility for like 5 days after a good ol' hospital stay. I've never been arrested, never had a ticket (that wasn't dismissed(no insurance)). I don't understand how this bears any weight on whether or not I am entitled to owning a gun, but it does. Please, if you can give me some insight, a phone number or path to take in attempts to appeal this I would be grateful. Thanks.

It may be that the charge was domestic violence. If that is the case then that would be why you are having troubles. I don't know which state you are in or anything, but it may be possible to get the conviction expunged since you were a minor.

I was in california when it all went down, and no, I was never convicted of any crime. What information I did receive was that it was because I was forcibly sent to a correctional facility. You can commit yourself, but if the government, i.e. police deem it necessary then your screwed.

The denial when you try to purchase a gun comes from the Feds. The law lists a limited number of reasons for denial that are quite specific. When you were given an explanation of the denial, the FBI should have specifically cited the portion of the law upon which they based the denial. Most of those reasons require a decision by a court or that you are currently undergoing specific legal proceedings.

I hate to phrase it this way, but, when you were sent to the mental facility, was there any adjudication about your mental state? I am not asking if it was correct or whether it still applies; just was there one? If there was, that would explain the denial.

and yeah, what bothers me so is that this was over 10 years ago & I have a spotless record.

If you were in WA I could tell you what needs to be done, but as this happened in California, and it is in the national register...first you need to get a copy of the court order that committed you. I would suspect you also need to have this cleared in the county it occured in.

IN WA you take a copy of the original court order that committed you to an involuntary stay in the mental health facility...You take a copy of your criminal record (if you have none, you need a copy of the State Patrol report that you are clean), and a statement of mental health condition from a mental health professional stateing that whatever the condition was that originally placed in into involuntary MH confinement is now under control...and you give a copy to the county PA, and then file a patition in Superior court (and pay the court fee).. In your case, the PA will probably not contest, the judge will give you a clean bill of MH, and the national database will be notified and updated. THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE IN Washington State!!!!

California MAY be different. WA: Superior court in the county where you were committed, or in the Superior court where you now reside. As you now reside in OR, and were committed in CA...you will have to check the state law that applies. You can do this yourself if you have the time to jump through the hoops, you do have to show up in person to obtain the original court order, and you will have to show up in court. A lawyer can do the rest.

was there any adjudication about your mental state?
IANAL. Consult one.

I was never seen by a judge. I was taken by the police from my dad's house directly to the local hospital where I was treated for the pummeling my brother gave me & then I was transferred handcuffed to a gurney to a mental health facility. I just found the number to the courthouse where this happened, so tomorrow I'm going to call & try to get some more info.

The question is whether you were ever admitted to a mental facility for treatment, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. If you were a minor at the time and one of your parents "signed you in", that counts as voluntary. If you were only there for observation, then they had no basis for the denial. The problem is that they try to make their mistakes on the side of not letting people who are entitled to have guns get them, rather than err by letting a nut-case get a gun who should not. In my view, that's illegal, but yes, you have to go through an appeal process, or do an independent suit for declaratory judgment. And you do need an attorney. In theory, you could do it yourself, but unless you really understand how trials work, you shouldn't; being pro-se in court is sort of like leaning over a running engine with long hair and a necktie, when you don't really know what engines do.

At a minimum, you're going to need a good, legible (and certified if possible) copy of your records to find out exactly what happened and why.

By the way, nothing I say on this website as "user" should be taken as either advertising for attorney services or legal advice, merely personal opinion. Everyone having a question regarding the application of law to the facts of their situation should seek the advice of an attorney competent in the subject matter of the issues presented and licensed to practice in the relevant state.